Mobile Music: Cool iPhone App Turns Barcodes Into Beats

The iPhone has created a whole new era of amateur music. Apps that let you play all kinds of weird music have been fan favorites since the early days of Apple’s iconic communication/entertainment device. Barcodas is a new contender that will make your whole life – particularly the parts that you spend shopping – more musical.

Using the iPhone’s camera, Barcodas turns product bar codes into strange tinny little melodies. You can adjust the time signature and harmonic scale for the songs, turning any EAN or UPC bar code into a somewhat-customizable piece of music.

After creating an ear-pleasing melody off of your Wheaties box, you can share your musical creations on Facebook. For true music lovers, there is a whole world of compositional possibilities out there in every aisle of the grocery store just waiting to be brought to life. For the negligible price of 99 cents from the App Store, Barcodas seems like it offers up plenty of entertainment value for the cost.

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See more in Phones & Mobile or under Gadgets. April, 2011.